Dates format are a nightmare for application if you are handling a global system. Most application provide a certain level of configuration for user preference. OTM (Oracle Transportation Management) is one such application that allows you to configure date format for users. However, this can be quite painful because the date format can vary in each module. These are the OTM portions where you should take note.
OTM Date Configuration
You can configure date format with user preference. The user preference can also be superseded by the preference in contact module. Some of the OTM fields are in date type. There is also attribute date fields as placeholder. Report parameters date format can be overwritten by date format in report library.
Dates to Take Note
You will find many painful points when you are using character field for dates. This can be in the form of refnum or integration xml. Many of the reports required dates filter. You may want to consider the usage of date field for these filter instead of character data type. You will find a lot of conversion format between to_char and to_date in your report query.
Whether you are upgrading or migrating, the impact on date format is very huge. OTM is one such application with flexibility on date format usage. This caused a challenging task for technical team who will be maintaining a global system. Should you standardise your date format instead?
Danny Kwok 
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